Passenger Trains > Amtrak to Award Scholarships

 Amtrak will award 11 scholarships to full-time undergraduate and graduate students who are passionate about a career in the railroad industry.
The application deadline is Jan. 31. Among the scholarships available are:
— High school students who are Hispanic/Latinx, African American, Asian American/Pacific Islander;
— Women in STEM, for students pursuing an undergraduate or master’s degree majoring in science, technology, engineering, or math;
— Engineering, for student with an interest in rail engineering;
— IT, for students in information technology, computer science, or a similar field;
— Non-technical, for students in business, finance, marketing, supply chain, or a similar field;
— A. Philip Randolph, for children, spouses, civil-union partners or domestic partners of Amtrak employees, retirees, or furloughed employees.
Candidates are encouraged to submit more than one application. Scholarships will help with tuition, fees, books, and equipment. More information and an application is available at on the Amtrak website at the careers page. From the akronrrblog 
 

Well that's not discriminatory.

TomG Wrote:
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> Well that's not discriminatory.

Wokeness = Marxism.  Inclusiveness doesn't mesh with the tribalistic oppressor vs oppressed simple minded nonsense that is in vogue today.

Award scholarships and hire not the best and brightest but those politically connected to the loudest-shouting social causes.  That's the Amtrak way to below-mediocrity (they are already AT mediocrity at best).

While I believe all should be given a fair chance at RR employment and offering scholarships, etc, I also believe that employment should be based on finding the best applicants for the job— clearly something NRPC has great difficulty in doing.
In my 37 years working for NRPC, I have never seen a more biased, slanted recruitment and retraining program for all employees, now.
The basics of running a RR, i.e., learning RR rules in a time proven manner and respecting those who have worked with them for years are being circumvented for a social agenda program that dumbs down RR rules that have proven effective for decades in safe operation, and ultimately causes even more confusion to new hires.
I am very glad to be close to retirement age since this current crop of “postage stamp” managers who nitpick seasoned employees and treat them worse than new hires has me completely baffled and bewildered. I guess our years of dedication, injury free performance and total lack of rules violations means nothing to them — a very sorry way to run a company, indeed.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/23 22:36 by IC_2024.

IC_2024 Wrote:
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> While I believe all should be given a fair chance
> at RR employment and offering scholarships, etc,
> I also believe that employment should be based on
> finding the best applicants for the job— clearly
> something NRPC has great difficulty in doing.
> In my 37 years working for NRPC, I have never seen
> a more biased, slanted recruitment and retraining
> program for all employees, now.

Across the pond to the west in Japan, there are increasing number of women conductors and engineers, something unheard of until recently. It's easy to tell they got hired and kept their jobs based on merit.

There are signs posted in buses and trains, encouraging women to apply for the job openings. That's it. No political anger or social agenda behind it.

> I am very glad to be close to retirement age since
> this current crops of “matrix” type managers
> who nitpick seasoned employees and treat them
> worse than new hires has me completely baffled and
> bewildered.

I've seen it, and I'm convinced it's deliberate to force "employee turnover." "I didn't hire him, so he must go, and I'll pamper the younger ones since it's easier for me to control them." Occasionally, age discrimination lawsuits can shut these oppressors down, but success stories are few and far between.

Here's a couple of video captures to cheer you up a little:

- Woman engineer gets a good look at the foamer while at a station stop.
- It's part of her job to call and point, like any other Japanese engineer.

---

---

Charles, thanks for cheering me up… I am definitely not a “sour grapes” type as you and many on here know very well, and have worked very hard to safely move thousands of passengers over the years.
I just always thought it might be easier as you get closer to retirement, but sadly the opposite is true. For example, I had a newer boss “hiding” behind an engine the other day to make sure I was doing a “securement” test on a loco— something NRPC is hot on now. He popped out and literally shouted out my name while confronting me like I had committed a “Nuremberg war crime” if it hadn’t been done properly. For the record, in 35 years of RR ops, I have never had any equipment “get away” from me at all.
This kind of thing gets old — it makes the job a chore and not something I look forward to coming to—
Esp being picked on but fully recognize that proving age discrimination is a very difficult process. Most of these type bosses come from crappy Class I RR’s and were abused there as well, so they don’t know any different, but it’s still pathetic and uncalled for. I was a temporary Trainmaster and safety officer at NRPC years ago — glad I left those headaches well in the past.
Again, thanks for the diversion to a happier, more efficient passenger RR operation in Japan— glad to see all the women getting those jobs! Long overdue!!

cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> IC_2024 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------

>
> Across the pond to the west in Japan, there are
> increasing number of women conductors and
> engineers, something unheard of until recently.
> It's easy to tell they got hired and kept their
> jobs based on merit.
>
> There are signs posted in buses and trains,
> encouraging women to apply for the job openings.
> That's it. No political anger or social agenda
> behind it.
>
> > I am very glad to be close to retirement age
> since
> > this current crops of “matrix” type
> managers
> > who nitpick seasoned employees and treat them
> > worse than new hires has me completely baffled
> and
> > bewildered.
>
> I've seen it, and I'm convinced it's deliberate to
> force "employee turnover." "I didn't hire him, so
> he must go, and I'll pamper the younger ones since
> it's easier for me to control them." Occasionally,
> age discrimination lawsuits can shut these
> oppressors down, but success stories are few and
> far between.
>
> Here's a couple of video captures to cheer you up
> a little:
>
> - Woman engineer gets a good look at the foamer
> while at a station stop.
> - It's part of her job to call and point, like any
> other Japanese engineer.

I'm all for a culture that requires a system of calling and pointing out to help prevent turning trains over in curves, or leaving mainline switches open. Something Amtrak had major accidents caused by a few years ago.

Peter_Hawtrey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm all for a culture that requires a system of
> calling and pointing out to help prevent turning
> trains over in curves, or leaving mainline
> switches open. Something Amtrak had major
> accidents caused by a few years ago.

Well, that culture also holds management accountable for accidents. CEO of JR West was pressured to resign after investigations revealed that the engineer responsible for the 2005 Amagasaki derailment was hazed repeatedly by his bosses - JR West operates in a highly-competitive environment (against other railroads and the airlines), and the culmination of that may have resulted in the accident.

Work environment that IC_2024 describes would result in the "calling and pointing" rule to be weaponized against employees by the power-tripping management, instead of being used as a productive tool to promote safety.

Furthermore, the "culture" responsible for the 2015 Philadelphia derailment was busy villainizing Mr . Bostian, but did little if anything regarding the environment that allowed the perp to shoot projectiles to cause the accident in the first place. In Japan, the mayor of Philadelphia would have been put on a pressure cooker high enough to either resign or commit suicide.